The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42).

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: September 24th

Tuesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

MASS READINGS

September 24, 2019 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbor, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Lattwaerrick (Apple Butter)

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September 24: Feast of Our Lady of Ransom | Fr. Paul Haffner

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: Our Lady of Ransom ; Other Titles: Our Lady of Mercy

This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favor. In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails: rescue me from sinking in the mud; save me from my foes.

The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1218 in separate visions to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond of Penafort and James, king of Aragon, asking them to found a religious order dedicated to freeing Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens or Moors, who at the time held a great part of Spain. On August 10, 1218, King James established the royal, military and religious Order of our Lady of Ransom (first known as the Order of St. Eulalia, now known as the Mercedarian Order), with the members granted the privilege of wearing his own arms on their breast. Most of the members were knights, and while the clerics recited the divine office in the commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered prisoners. This pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of charity who collected alms for the ransom of Christians, and often gave themselves up in exchange for Christian prisoners. This feast, kept only by the Order, was extended to the whole Church by Innocent XII in the 17th century.

Our Lady of Ransom
Would you risk your life to free someone from a concentration camp? Would you take the place of a prisoner? Would you sacrifice comforts and even necessities to save a slave? Would you pray and do penance for the freedom of Christian captives?

These things were done by the followers of Christ from the earliest days, but especially during the Middle ages. At that time the enemies of Christ's Church had conquered a great part of Christian territory and had carried off into slavery many thousands of Christians. Hit and miss, though heroic, efforts to free these unfortunates had been made here and there.

The Church decided to organize the work of ransoming slaves. In 1198 St. John of Matha and St. Felix of Valois founded the Trinitarians. From then until 1787 they redeemed 900,000 captives. The Order of Our Lady of Ransom, called the Mercedarians, and founded by St. Peter Nolasco, ransomed 490,736 slaves between the years 1218 and 1632. St. Vincent de Paul, a slave himself, led his priests to save 1200 Christian captives in the short period between 1642 and 1660 at the staggering cost of 1,200,000 pounds of silver. An even greater achievement was the conversion of thousands in captivity, and steeling them against the sufferings of a cruel martyrdom for the faith.

All this has been admitted by a modern, competent Protestant historian, Bonet-Maury. He records that no expedition sent into the Barbary States by the powers of Europe or America equalled "the moral effect produced by the ministry of consolation, peace and abnegation, going even to the sacrifice of liberty and life, which was exercised by the humble sons of St. John of Matha, St. Peter Nolasco, and St. Vincent de Paul."

Our Blessed Mother herself appeared in a vision to St. Peter Nolasco, and requested him to found a religious order devoted to the rescue of captives. This was in 1218. Previous to that, since 1192, certain noblemen of Barcelona, Spain, had organized to care for the sick in hospitals and to rescue Christians from the Moors. St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond of Pennafort, and King James formed the new Order of Our Lady of Mercy. The group included religious priests who prayed and gathered the means, while the lay monks or knights went into the very camps of the Moors to buy back Christians, and, if necessary, take their very places. We have mentioned the magnitude of their success, a success that was won through the heavenly assistance of the Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Ransom.

Excerpted from the Feasts of Our Lady by Fr. Arthur Tonne

Patrons: Barcelona, Spain; people named Clemency, Mercedes, Mercedez, Merced or Mercy.

Things to Do:

Learn more about the spirituality, saints and history of the Order of Mercedarians who take a vow to risk their lives to save Christians who find themselves in extreme danger of losing their faith in the new types of captivity.
We cannot take the places of those enslaved in their own land. We cannot buy freedom for those doing slave labor in the world. But we can and must beseech Our Lady of Ransom to show her powerful concern toward these suffering millions. We can beg her to help them find their way home. We can pray for her powerful intercession that slavery of all kinds may disappear from the earth. There is also a slavery of sin, from which she is eager to deliver us and our loved ones and all the world. Put yourself in the position of these displaced unfortunates. Imagine yourself exiled to a strange land, with strange customs, a strange language, and a merciless master. Picture yourself without a home, without friends, and often without your family. Above all let your heavenly representative and advocate, Our Lady of Ransom, know that you are interested, you are concerned, you are begging her help for these unfortunates. Best of all, attend Mass and receive Holy Communion and pray with the Church on this ever-timely feast.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Psalm 122:1-5

25th Week in Ordinary Time

I rejoiced because they said to me, “We will go up to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1)

Psalm 122 is a “song of ascents,” one of fifteen psalms sung by Jewish pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem for the annual feast of Passover. These psalms recall the joy and excitement the Jews felt as they returned to Jerusalem after their exile—a story that we find in today’s first reading.

So imagine you are a first-century Jew in a caravan, traveling the dusty, arduous road that will take you to Jerusalem for the feast. As you sing this psalm, you rejoice to think of how the Lord worked miraculously to bring your ancestors back to the Promised Land. You recall how lonely and cut off from God’s promises these exiles must have felt in the land of Babylon. Separated from the Temple, the house of God, they had nowhere to go to celebrate their holy feasts.

But then the pagan King Darius issued an order allowing them to return home and rebuild their Temple—he even financed the effort. Understandably, it was hard for these exiles to contain their joy. The words of the prophets promising return and restoration were being fulfilled. They were finally going home. Of course they rejoiced to go to the house of the Lord! Of course any first-century Jew would have felt that same joy as he made his way to the Temple. His ancestors’ story was his story as well, and he was excited to relive it.

Have you ever felt this kind of delight? You might think you don’t have much in common with the ancient Jews. You have not been in exile; in fact, you probably went to the house of the Lord a couple of days ago to celebrate Sunday Mass. But their story is yours too. Sin had made you an exile from God’s presence, but now, through Christ, you have been brought near.

So do what the Jews did, and remember: God has fulfilled his promises to you. Your exile is over. God has made his home in your heart. He is present in your family. And even better, he is present when you go to the house of the Lord to join your brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Lord, I will rejoice to go to your house!”

Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20
Luke 8:19-21

Regnum Christi

September 24, 2019 – We Too Wish to See Jesus

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Father Barry O’Toole, LC

Luke 8:19-21

The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are the author of life and the giver of all that is good. You are the Prince of Peace and my mainstay. You are my healer and the cure itself. I need you, and I need to give you. I love you and commit myself to you entirely, knowing you could never let me down or deceive me. Thank you for giving me your very self.

Petition: Lord, help me hear your word and do it.

“We Wish to See Jesus.” Today, as two thousand years ago, mankind longs to see the face of Jesus. Each one has his own reason: some are in need of healing –– like Bartimaeus, the blind man of Jericho who shouted after Jesus until he took pity and cured him (Mark 10:46-52); some out of curiosity –– like Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus because he was short in stature (Luke 19:2-10); some to hear his word –– like the crowd that pressed in on him to hear the word of God by the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1-10); some out of love and to look after him – like the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene (Mark 15:41). Why do I wish to see him?

Christ Is Not Easily Conquered: “They could not reach him because of the crowd.” Though we may seek Christ with the purest of intentions, it is not always easy to achieve our goal. There are bound to be obstacles along the way, and we have to be prepared for them. Satan always tries to separate us from God through sin, even putting the fear of confession in our hearts so we don’t receive God’s healing grace. The world also attempts to keep us as far from God as possible, offering a thousand distractions and amusements to lead us away from prayer, reflection and conversion. And of course, sometimes we ourselves are so little inclined to piety, service to others and a virtuous life. Laziness and indolence can overcome even the best of us. We need to let him know we are seeking him.

Jesus Rejects His Closest Friends? What counts for Jesus are “those who listen to the word of God and do it.” He came to preach to and save everyone. And contrary to the first impression given by his words, this does not exclude his mother and his relatives. Christ doesn’t lower them but rather elevates us –– and them –– to a degree of intimacy greater than blood ties. This is the beauty of God’s love: He calls us to an ever-greater dignity and intimacy with him.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I want to see your face in all the events and happenings of this day. Drive away all my enemies and spiritual tepidity. Cure my spiritual blindness, for you alone can help me. Without you I can do no good. Help me to live up to this dignity you have bestowed upon me.

Resolution: I will reserve five minutes this evening to do a thorough examination of conscience and perhaps prepare for confession. I will eliminate the obstacles I have to seeing God’s face and thank God for the graces he has given me.

Homily of the Day from Catholic Exchange

September 24, 2019

Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In the first reading, Ezra the priest recounts the events leading to the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem. After the work was finished, the Jews celebrated exceedingly because finally, after many decades of exile, they could worship again in the Temple of God. For us now, to rebuild the Temple of God could mean to rebuild our inner selves that are broken, to rebuild our family relationships, and finally and most importantly, to rebuild the Christian community.

In the gospel, Jesus is preaching the Word of God to the people stating that the claims of physical relationship comes after the spiritual. He put all his attention in forming a community of believers dedicated to loving, worshipping and serving the God of heaven. What is important is not that we are blood brothers but that we are brothers in the faith dedicated to spreading the Good News and helping people to rebuild their lives. God is our Father so we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We put worship of God before family, service of God before having a great career and worldly success, and obedience to God before obedience to man. Mother Mary surely knew this but some of her relatives and some of the Jews listening to Jesus did not. So Jesus made it clear when he told the people: “My mother and brothers are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.”

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Espanol

All Issues > Volume 35, Issue 5

<< Tuesday, September 24, 2019 >>

Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20
View Readings

Psalm 122:1-5

Luke 8:19-21
Similar Reflections

"ALL IN THE FAMILY"

"My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it." �Luke 8:21

For the Israelites, blood lines were of critical importance. The commandment that "the life is in the blood" ruled both their dietary laws (see Lv 17:11) and their entire culture. Their heritage and family lineage literally defined them as a people and a nation.

Now in Jesus, the family is no longer defined by the blood line passed on from father and mother. In Jesus, the family is defined by a new blood line: the Blood of Christ. Faith in Jesus, through hearing His Word (see Rm 10:17), acting upon this Word (Lk 8:21), and being baptized into the family of God (Catechism, 1265) now defines membership in God's family. We ratify and renew this family membership by receiving the Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, the family meal.

No longer is it necessary to shed the blood of lambs, bulls, or goats (see Ezr 6:17) to demonstrate our family loyalty. In joining the family of God through Baptism, we are changed. We are begotten from above, baptized into Christ's death and Resurrection (see Rm 6:3-4). We now see everything in relation to our new family. God is our Father, Jesus our Brother, Savior and Lord, and the Holy Spirit seals us into the family (Catechism, 1274). Mary is our mother, all who have faith in Christ are our siblings, and even those who do not believe in Christ are our potential brothers and sisters. Therefore, live the lifestyle befitting a member of the royal family of Christ (see 1 Pt 2:9).

Prayer: Jesus, may Your blood be upon us and our loved ones (see Mt 27:25).

Promise: "I rejoiced because they said to me, 'We will go up to the house of the Lord.' " —Lk 8:21

Praise: Penny and John had their wedding rings engraved "United in Christ" and He has been their faithful Partner for 60 years.

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